Doctors' Notes: Menstrual Health
What's Up Docs?
BBC
4.4 • 663 Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris and Xand are back with a bonus episode, as they continue their conversation with Dr Chi Eziefula, Associate Professor in Global Health and Infection and menstrual health expert.
They talk about how menstrual health is covered in medical school, delve further into the stigma that still surrounds it, and what institutions are doing - or not doing - about it.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this or any other topic covered on the podcast, you email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or Whatsapp on 08000 665 123.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken Guest: Dr Chi Eziefula Producers: Maia Miller-Lewis and Jo Rowntree Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Editor: Kirsten Lass Researcher: Grace Revill Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable Social Media: Leon Gower Digital Lead: Richard Berry Composer: Phoebe McFarlane Sound Design: Ruth Rainey
At the BBC: Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's like going into an ice bath with your hands as the ice. In 2025, we were here for the entertainment. Ellis and John. Have you not considered just coffee, which is what I do? Sightract with Annie and Nick. Stevie Wonder, welcome. I bless you. Loyal Carnery is with us. I want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked. Welcome to Uncloaked, Alan. Oh, thanks for having me, Ed. |
| 0:24.5 | The winner. is with us. I want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:21.1 | Welcome to Uncloaked, Ireland. |
| 0:22.8 | Oh, thanks for having me, Ed. |
| 0:24.5 | The winner. |
| 0:25.2 | I know, still hasn't sunk in. |
| 0:26.8 | Get the best of 2025 with podcasts on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.5 | Hello, welcome to Doctor's Notes, the bonus content that we put together every week |
| 0:39.4 | so that you, like us, can take a deeper dive into the science of the main topic from WhatsApp |
| 0:44.8 | docs each week. I'm Dr Chris. I'm Dr. Zandh, and this is our little opportunity to get even more |
| 0:50.4 | brilliant advice and insight from our experts. We can't help it. We're always brimming with more questions. |
| 0:56.5 | In our main episode, we recorded an interview with Dr. Chi Eziophele. |
| 1:02.1 | She's a consultant physician, and she's an associate professor in global health and infection |
| 1:06.9 | at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. |
| 1:09.2 | Her research now focuses on menstrual health |
| 1:12.5 | and how relevant it is to human rights, environmental sustainability, as well as to our |
| 1:17.4 | health in the UK, to all of your health. That's right. So in that main episode, Chris, we discussed |
| 1:22.6 | the way in which people who menstruate are living their lives on a cyclical basis, a kind of 28-day cycle. |
| 1:29.4 | We talked a lot about the way that periods are discussed in a very negative way, |
| 1:33.3 | when in fact there are positive aspects of them for many people. |
| 1:36.7 | In doctor's notes, we wanted to ask her a bit more. |
| 1:39.4 | So we've spoken about stigma in the UK and around the world, |
... |
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